Wrapper suitable for menstrual pads



May 2, 1950 El 5. ROWE WRAPPER SUITABLE FOR MENSTRUAL PADS Filed Sept.'27, 1946 11 5 1112.0 entoz Patented May 2, 1950 RATE N T OFFICEWRAPPER'SUITABLE FOR'M'ENS'TRUALPAD'S" Richard Everard: Shewan- Rowe,Johannesburg; Transvaal,- Union of South Africa Application September27, 194 Serial No; 699,901" In the Union ofS'outh AfrioaNovember 22,1940 scams.- (Cl;-1-28-'-=290=) This invention relates to wrapperssuitable for use as a bandage or as a holder for pads such as menstrualpads; and also relates to menstrual pads.

When a bandage isapplied to a surface on thigh which faces the similarsurface-of the other thigh, such bandage is liable to bring aboutchafing of the other thigh, particularly when the bandage gets wet andwhen itis permeatedb'y blood which coagulateson-tlie outside of thebandage'and forms a rough surface; The same drawback is frequentlyencountered in connection with menstrual pads which often cause chafingAn object of this invention is the provision of a wrapper of the kindabove described which minimises or prevents chafing. Another object ofthis inventionis the provision of such wrapper which can be producedcheaply enough to permit of its being discarded after a single use; andwhich can be disposedof inthe customary manner, i. e.'by means of aflushing system or by burning. A further object of this invention is theprovision of a menstrual pad comprising such wrapper which minimisesexcoriation.

With these and similar objects in View, this invention comprises awrapper comprising a sheet of gauze to which a smaller andsubstantiallyrectangular sheet of thin liquid-impervious and flexibleskin material presenting an unbroken surface wide enough to provide anadequate covering for plied is permanently secured; said smaller sheetbeing positioned entirely upon said gauze sheet and being secured tosaid gauze sheet along two opposite edges of said smaller sheet; acentral.

the body part to which the wrapper is to be apmain covered despite suchrelative movement of the part and the wrapper as maynormauy occur whilethe wrapper is in use.

This invention also comprises a wrapper comprising a strip of gauze anda strip of thin liquid v impervious and flexible skin material; saidskin strip being, in the direction of said edges, shorter than saidgauze strip and having a width which is preferably less than half thewidth of said gauze strip but enough to provide an adequate Covering forthe body part to which thewrapper" is to be applied; said skinstripbeingpositioned entirely upon said gauze'strip and so-that the width of theuncovered portion of the gauze strip at one side of the skin strip is atleast equal to th width of the skin strip; said skin strip being securedto said gauzestrip along two opposite folded -over edges of'saidskin-strip, leaving the skin material between said two edges freefor movement relatively to the gauze material facing said skin material.

This invention also comprises a menstrual pad comprising an absorbentwad of cotton wool in= sorted-inawrappei' as specified in either of thetwo last preceding paragraphs This invention furthercomprises-features-and combinations of features which will be apparentfrom the-following description and the acconrpanying drawings in which:

Figure l illustr ates a wrapper.

Eigure zisa perspectiveview or a menstrual pad comprising thewrappershown in Figure 1-.

Figure 3 is an'enlarged -cross section on 3-3 of Figure 2.

Withreference toFigure 1-, 2 indicates a sheet strip of gauze to whiohissecured a skin 3 of Home im ervious highlyfiexible ahd'smooth ma terialof' film-th ickness;

'Ihiaskih i'a iS of s "aller areathan the gauze sheet 2; and a'pref d"manner of attaching it tothe auze is indie es in Figure 1 which showsthe edges 4 of the skin 3 turned over; and the races 5 of saidturnedover e ges emented to the gauze sheet 2.- T-his ensuresthat thesmoothness or the outer surfaoefi of the'skin 3 is not impaired which isimportant for the wearers comfort. The term material of film-thick-ness"is intended to mean that the thickness of the material is so small andits flexibility is so greatthat a skin inadeof such material isincapable of maintaining the-form givento it by a wad, without thesupport or the'wad. Rubber of film-thickness such as may be prodiicedbyonce dipping'a former in. latex'is smooth and soft and is suitable asthe skin material.

When the wrapper is to be used with a menstrual pad; it is desirablethat the gauze wrapping shall be on the onehand stronglyadherent to theabsorbent wad of such pad to" stabilize the latter and on the other handreadilyunfoldable thererom without" appearingoutside the skin; and forthis purpose it is necessary that the last wrapped edge of the gauzesheet shall appear at the catchment surface of the assembled pad, inorder that the unwrapping may be commenced by lifting this edge awayfrom the'cotton wool. To acccnnplish this whilst having substantiallymore than a sin' re layer wrapping, the sheet 3 of skin material ispositionedeccentrically on the gauze sheet 2 :and;so asto leave at oneside of it 0 *afree gauze-flap 1 or lesseiitent than the width ofthe wadand aconsiderably wider similar flap 'S- at the-other side.-

A menstrual pad comprising awrapper of this kind illustrated inFigures 2and 3. As shown "inthese figures, the pad comprises an absorbent was 9of thick cellulosewadding, such as cotton wool, lightly compressed;around which is wrapped the wrapper 2'," 3 so that the gauze'sheet 2encloses and confines the wad 9. In the crosss'ection'of ine assembledpadtfie skin hovers the base l0 and sides II, II of the wad and leavesthe upper surface l2 thereof exposed to act as a catchment surface.

In assembling the pad, the wrapping of the composite gauze and skinsheet about the wad is commenced with the application of the edge E3 ofthe wider flap 8 to the wad at such point l4, Figure 3, of thecircumference of the latter that, as the wrapping proceeds in say theclockwise direction shown, the edges l5, 16 of the skin registersuccessively with the upper edges of the wad, and finally the edge i! ofthe gauze appears over the catchment surface and above the gauze layeralready lying on said surface. The disassembling of the pad after use iscommenced by picking up (said gauze edge I? and the unwrapping proceedsanti-clockwise.

The pad may be formed in the customary manner with means for attachingit to a belt or other supporting means. For example, the gauze sheet 2may be made sufficiently long to provide, at both ends of the wad, looseends 18, i8 which may be tied into knots.

The container capacity of the skin 3 when distended by the wad, ensuresthat no leakage from the pad occurs even in the event of the centralarea of the absorbent material becoming saturated.

In a modification of the example of Figures 2 and 3, a wrapper of thekind shown in Figure l is wrapped around the central portion of a padwhich comprises a wad and a first gauze wrapper providing theaforementioned loose ends iii, [3. In this case, the length of the gauzesheet 2 is preferably made substantially equal to the length of the wadso that the wrapper does not extend beyond the ends of said wad. Theposition and shape of the skin is in this case materially the same as inthe pad of Figures 2 and 3; and the wrapper may be applied to the pad bythe same procedure as has been described with reference to Figure 3.

In a process suitable for the manufacture of wrappers on amass-production scale, a strip of gauze of suitable width and ofindefinite length is fed onto a table and has two parallel lines ofsuitable adhesive imprinted thereon at suitable intervals. Skin stripsare placed onto the adhesive-imprinted gauze to be secured to the latterby the adhesive; and the gauze strip is therevupon cut into pieces ofsuitable length, each of which has a skin strip attached. thereto in theprescribed position.

I claim:

1. As a new article of manufacture, a wrapper comprising a strip ofgauze and a substantially rectangular strip of thin liquid imperviousand flexible skin material; said skin strip being shorter and narrowerthan said gauze strip but wide enough to provide an adequate coveringfor the body part to which the wrapper is to be applied,

comprising a strip of gauze and a strip of thin liquid impervious andflexible skin material; said skin strip being shorter than said gauzestrip and having a width which is less than half the width of said gauzestrip but is wide enough to provide an adequate covering for the bodypart to which the wrapper is to be applied, said skin strip beingpositioned entirely upon said gauze strip and so that the width of theuncovered portion of the gauze strip at one side of the skin strip isgreater than the width of the skin strip; said skin strip being securedto said gauze strip along two opposite folded-over edges of said skinstrip, leaving the skin material between said two edges free formovement relatively to the gauze material facing said skin material.

3. A menstrual single-use pad comprising a wad of absorbent material anda wrapper as claimed in claim 1 loosely wrapped around said wad; theskin sheet of said wrapper extending unbrokenly over the bottom of saidpad so as to render said bottom fluid-tight in at least the centralportion of the length of said pad, the portion of the skin sheetextending over the bottom of the pad being free to move relatively tothe gauze sheet.

4. A menstrual single-use pad comprising a wad of absorbent material anda wrapper as claimed in claim 1 loosely wrapped around said wad; theskin sheet of said wrapper extending unbrokenly over the bottom and thesides of said pad so as to render said bottom and said sides fluid-tightin at least the central portion of the length of said pad, the portionof the skin sheet extending over the bottom of the pad being free tomove relatively to the gauze sheet.

5. A menstrual single-use pad comprising a wad of absorbent material;and a wrapper consisting of a sheet of gauze and a substantiallyrectangular smaller sheet of l quid-impervious and flexible skinmaterial presenting an unbroken surface, positioned entirely upon saidgauze sheet and so secured thereto along two opposite lateral edges ofthe skin sheet that the central portion of the skin sheet is free tomove relatively to the gauze sheet; the wrapper being loosely wrappedaround the absorbent wad with the skin sheet extending unbrokenly overthe bottom and the sides of the wad so as to render the bottom and sidesfluid-tight in at least the central portion of the length of the pad.

6. The pad claimed in claim 5 in which opposite edges of the skin sheetare inwardly folded back over the skin sheet and in which the skin sheetis secured to the gauze sheet by adhesive along the folded back edges ofthe skin sheet.

RICHARD EVERARD SHEWAN ROXVE.

CES CITED U The following references are of record in the at theopposite side of said skin strip; said skin 'strip being secured to saidgauze strip along two opposite folded-over edges of said skin stripleaving the skin material between said two edges free for movementrelatively to the gauze material facing said skin material and thecombined widths of the said uncovered sides of the gauze strip beinggreater than the width of said skin strip.

2. Asa new article of manufacture. a wrapper file of this patent UNITEDSTATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,702,530 Williams Feb. 19', 1929-2,005,298 OBrien et 'al June 18, 1935 2,294,898 Fourness et al Sept. 8,1942 2,294,899 Fourness et al Sept. 8, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS NumberCountry Date 6,804 Great Britain 1888 754 Australia Oct. 22, 1936 GreatBritain Feb. 19, 1943

